New southern resident orca calf spotted as another vanishes

Greg Kim, The Seattle Times on Jun 19, 2026

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SEATTLE — Biologists spotted a new calf among the endangered southern resident orca pods this week, a hopeful sign tempered by the apparent disappearance of another calf born earlier this year.

Calf L130 was seen for the first time Sunday traveling with the female L91 near East Sooke, B.C., by Center for Whale Research biologists, who estimated the young whale was between one and three months old. Michael Weiss, research director for the center, described L130 as appearing well-fed, with visible fat reserves, and behaving energetically and socially with other whales, all good signs.

“It’s always exciting to find a new calf,” said Weiss. “In such a small population, having a new calf is a significant boost to the overall population size, but there’s always also a feeling of cautious optimism.”

The encouraging discovery was paired with a troubling absence, underscoring the challenges these whales face. Biologists could not locate L129, an L pod calf that was first spotted in February.

“We don’t expect a small calf like that to just wander off, so our current worry is that the calf did die,” Weiss said. “Given the condition it was in when we first saw it, that’s not entirely surprising.”

Only about half of the calves born into the southern residents, a critically endangered group of killer whales that travel between Central California and Southeast Alaska, make it through their first year, Weiss said, due to intertwined threats.

The biggest reason is a scarcity of Chinook salmon, their primary food source. Weiss said the southern residents evolved to specialize on Chinook, which provide “the biggest bang for your buck” in terms of size and fat content among fish in the area.

Even as the population of Chinook plummeted, this group of orcas has remained heavily reliant on that food source through most of the year, Weiss said, because “killer whales are very culturally driven, especially by what they learn from their moms and grandmas.”

A shortage of food can also amplify the health effects of contaminants on the mammals.

Southern residents carry high levels of pollutants like polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, chemicals that have been banned internationally but still persist in the environment, Weiss said. When Chinook are scarce and the whales fall into a caloric deficit, they burn blubber for energy. Because many toxic contaminants are stored there, that process releases them into the bloodstream and increases the risk they will be passed from mother to calf. The chemicals can interfere with development, hormones and immune function.

As of the Center for Whale Research’s latest census, 74 southern resident orcas remain, down from their historical population estimated at between 100 and 150 whales.

“If nothing changes, the population is going to continue to decline,” Weiss said.